Business Runs In The Family, Dear
by Birdywhistle
Summary: Meet Ruby Shelby. Armynurse, little sister and fulltime badass. When Ruby comes back from the war, she's badly injured and needs a new purpose in life. Luckily there is big brother Tommy. Will Ruby find her place in the family business?
1. Brothers and Grenades

_Meet Ruby Shelby. Nurse, sister and badass. Because we need some badass women in our lives._

* * *

And so, after a lot of time in Belgium and France, I got home with my brothers. I was in a lot of pain and lucky to be alive. I had volunteered for the army when my brothers did, but I signed up because I was a trained nurse and there was a great lack of medical personnel in France.

I was a fine nurse before the war, working in a hospital in Birmingham, but soon I was trained to be an army surgeon. They needed people in the field, doctors in the trenches. And only a few were stupid enough to sign up for that. I was one of those stupid people. I got separated from my brothers to go to Belgium. There were terrible things happening in Ypres.

After Ypres, where I had learned how to amputate limbs and had saved a lot of soldiers, I was sent to France. First Verdun, then the Somme. And that's where I met my brothers again.

I was given a shotgun in case the germans attacked while I was in the trenches. I was given a men's uniform and hat, and had to join the boys in battle. As it turned out, I was a really good shot.

So one day, I was walking with a group of soldiers who were sent back to base camp. Few of them were injured and needed more treatment than I could offer in the mud. So we were walking. We had been for a long time, and luckily it wasn't that far anymore.

We came across a small cave. Somehow I wanted to go in. All the things I had learned from war (Don't go into places you don't know. Don't go into enemy territory without some intel. Don't be stupid and most certainly do not get yourself or your comrades killed.) and decided to move towards the cave.

"Shelby! Get back in line!" My Sergeant-Major yelled. (Something I also learned, do not shout when on the move.)

"I'm just going to check this out, Sir. Something tells me I need to get in." I said as I proceeded to move towards the cave. I cocked my gun, just in case, and pointed it at the darkness before me.

"You Gypsy bastards with your 'feelings'." Sergeant-Major whispered just loud enough for me to hear. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction, so I didn't respond. I walked on, entering the cave.

"Is there anybody in here?" I shouted with a very stern voice.

My voice sounded damp in the cave. There was something in there, I knew it, but it did not make any sound. I decided to try another way to get their attention. "Somebody? I am a field nurse, is there anybody in there that needs medical attention?" I shouted again. I heard some muffled sounds. People. I knew it!

"What army?" A vague yet familiar voice shouted back. It was broken, hoarse.

"English." I said. I walked a little bit closer into the cave. Some of my comrades followed me.

"We too. Tunnelers. No-one is hurt too bad. We're coming your way." Another vague but familiar voice said.

We moved closer in, the stranded soldiers moved towards us. It took me a bit longer than I like to admit because of the darkness, but the faces that were moving towards us were very familiar to me. Muddy, dirty, bruised and battered faces that I saw belonged to my family. All three of my big brothers.

"My goodness, Ruby!" Thomas leaped forward and took me in his arms. "Boys! Oh my fucking god! You're all here! Fucking miracle!" I yelled in happiness.

"You're alive." Arthur whispered. He just stood there, gleam in his eye, watching how John was now hugging both me and Tommy. I could see the other men in the cave over John's shoulder. They were all alive. Freddie, Danny Whizzbang, Jeremiah.

"In the bleak midwinter, my arse." Arthur finally screamed. He wrapped his big arms around all three of us, and hoisted us up in the air. I raised an eyebrow, but Jeremiah was already explaining.

"We were here, sitting ducks, waiting for the Prussian Cavalry to kill us. So I suggested we'd sing In The Bleak Midwinter together. It's a whole story, I'll tell it someday."

"Say, Ruby.. What do you need a gun for? You're a nurse." John eyed the gun that was hanging on my shoulder. "Quite the big gun, too." He added.

"What are you wearing that uniform for anyway?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

"Well, pretty soon after I got to Belgium, I was trained to be a field nurse. There was a shortage of them and I volunteered. They told us that we should wear men's uniforms, and they learned us how to shoot. I turned out to be a great shot."

"That's because we taught you well." Tommy snickered.

"Sure." I replied sarcastically. "Anyway. When we finally got to Ypres, there was a shortage of field surgeons. So they started training again, and I volunteered again, and that is how I learned how to amputate limbs in the trenches, surrounded by mud." I told the story as if it was a usual tuesday for me. All the men in the cave were looking at me the same way: wide eyes, eyebrows up and mouth hanging wide open. "Come again?" Freddie stuttered.

"What? Like women can't do this kind of stuff. All the men ran away." I almost spat the words back at him. For the past two years, I had done everything a man did. I was damn good at my job. And I would get rewarded for it as well. There were a few more girls like me. The girls who volunteered to get themselves killed in the mud while trying to safe the men. It was almost ironic.

"Boys!" Tommy screamed. Still, not the voice I was used to, but better. "She's alive, we're alive, and we are getting out of here. Let's not bitch about anything to Ruby. We haven't seen each other in almost two years. We've missed each other, and by the looks of it, we're all pretty done with this cave. So let's get out."

"Yeah, we're getting out of here." I smiled back. "This is how we're going to do it. Protocol states that my comrades go out first, tell our Sergeant-Major that you are good folk, and then you guys get out without being arrested first thing. After all you boys are out, I'm leaving. So get a go on." I pointed at my comrades, and then to the exit of the cave. To the boys' surprise, my comrades followed my direct order and exited the cave.

"How'd you do that?" Arthur asked in awe.

"Save their life, is what you do."

Arthur went first after the soldiers, then Freddie, Danny, John and Jeremiah. Once they were all in the not so safe-safety of daylight, Tommy decided he could leave the cave too. "Come on, sis, let's go home." He smiled. I checked the space one more time, and followed Tommy to daylight.

My enthusiasm got the better of my balance and I hell hard as I tripped over a stupid boulder. Or at least, I thought it was a boulder. Somehow, maybe it was the Gypsy instinct again, I felt something was wrong. I turned my head slowly to see what caused me to trip. It took me a moment to see. And then all of a sudden it was clear as day. It was some sort of tripwire. Tripwire meant grenade. Grenade meant explosions. And explosions meant death.

"SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT MOVE BOYS GO GO GO GO MOVE SHIT MOVE!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. I tried to stand up, to get out and run away but my boot had gotten stuck on the tripwire. " TOMMY MOVE!" I yelled again as he looked behind him, eyebrows raised as a question for my yelling.

"What's going on?"

"GO THERE'S A GRENADE GO."

Tommy's eyes went wide for only a split second. I managed to get up, pushed Thomas out of the cave just in time before the grenade went boom.

Tommy was safe. So were the rest of the boys.

I wasn't.

I was thrown onto the ground. It was like something I had never felt in my life before. White hot pain shot up my left leg, fast as a bullet that had been fired from a gun. I couldn't breathe. There was blood gushing out of a hole in my upper leg. Black spots clouded my vision. My ears were ringing, probably everyone's ears were ringing. I tried to look around me, tried to look at my leg, but the black spots dancing around made it hard to make something out of my surroundings. I could vaguely make out human forms, John and Arthur were standing up. I recognised them. The forms I believed to be Danny, Freddie and Jeremiah were climbing to their feet as well. I could not find Tommy.

Hell, I was half dying, trying to get some air into my lungs, and still put the needs of my big brother before mine.

"Ruby! Ruby you're going to be fine." Arthur screamed. He sat down next to me, took off his belt and tied my leg off with it. "Need to stop the bleeding, Rubes. I know it hurts, we're gonna get you somewhere safe. You stay with us now." He said more calmly. Like he had switched the same button I did when I was treating wounds in the field. There was less ringing in my ears, but my vision got worse. I could feel that somebody raised my upper body. "I'm here." John said. It sounded like a whisper after the bang from earlier. He took my upper body in his arms and held me tight. "You got hit by some metal." He explained while rocking me a bit. I felt a lot safer with Arthur and John around me. My breathing eased a bit, but it was still harsh and shallow. "Arthur is going to check the wound now, okay? He is going to look if there is any metal left inside, of if it went through. Just try and stay with me. I'm here, you're safe." John continued. It helped me. John was only 11 months older than me, and we had always been really close.

My mind was racing. There was so much going on at the moment. Breathe. Stay awake. Breathe. You're safe. Breathe. Where's Thomas? Breathe.

"Whes T'mmy?" I managed to get out.

"He's fine. He's with Jeremiah. Just a few scratches." Arthur said after a brief pause. I believed him. He sounded honest.

"W'nna Sleep." I whispered while closing my eyes. The pain was wearing me out. It started to feel dull, even though I knew Arthur was poking around in the wound.

"Ruby. Stay awake." John said a bit firmly.

"By order of the Peaky Blinders." I heard Tommy say it. His voice was trembling, but an order was an order.

"M'kay." And I tried. I really tried. But the dancing spots, pain and warm arms of my brothers were trying to get the better of me.

"There is quite the piece of metal in stuck in her leg. It did not go all the way through. I'm no doctor, but I do know that if we don't get it out anytime soon she's not going to survive this." Arthur quietly told Tommy and John. My Sergeant Major was standing next to them, listening closely.

"Can she travel?" He asked.

"She has to. Where were you going?"

"Base camp." I answered.

"She's right. It's not that far and we have a field hospital there. We should get there in about 45 minutes."

That was my cue.

"T'ke me there." I whispered, and then I let myself drown into the very welcoming world of unconsciousness.

When I first opened my eyes, I wished I would've kept hem close. The pain was excruciating.

"Fuck." I managed to get out. I saw a lot of people working around me. I was in the field hospital, I recognized the smell.

"She's awake!" Someone yelled. Another person took this as his cue and before I knew it, I was out cold again.

The second time I opened my eyes, I felt a bit better. The lights didn't hurt as much and the terrible hospital stench was gone. It smelled like.. sea. And there was pain. But if there was pain, that meant I still had two legs!

"Look who's back!" Arthur exclaimed. "Done with your beauty sleep are ya?"

I smiled. If Arthur was joking like this, it meant I would get better.

"Where am I?" I tried to sound like a big girl, but my throat was sore from all the screaming before, and my voice was practically gone.

"We are on a boat. On our way home." Tommy said. He was sitting next to me, holding my hand.

"You've been out cold for three days." John added. He looked happy to see me awake.

"What?! Three days?" I must've sounded like a joke, because all the boys were laughing out loud.

"Calm down. You're fine. They tried to fix up you leg as good as possible. It's going to take a long time to heal, but it should be fine." John said while laughing.

"Kind of fine, Ruby. You'll probably need to learn how to walk again. They cut out quite a bit of muscle to get all the metal out. It's a huge wound. Kinda cool, actually. You'll like it." Tommy said. He had a grin on his face, a different one than I was just to, but this was fine for now.

"I missed you boys so much." I sighed. "And now we're going home. All four of us." I closed my eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and exhaled.

"There is something you should know, Ruby." John started. He got cut of by Arthur. "Not now, John boy. Let's give her some time to heal first."

I looked at the both of them, then at Tommy. "No. I want to hear it." Tommy shook his head. "It's not the best plan, I think. You might hate us."

"Why? Because the grenade that almost blew my leg off, was yours?"

My three brothers looked at each other, then at me, and back at each other. Their faces were priceless, so I chuckled.

"What, you really thought that I didn't know? It was your final defence. If the Prussians would come, you could blow them up." I explained.

"That.. is exactly the truth." John whispered.

"Boys. I was in the same war you guys were. Look. I wasn't underground. I was not fighting with my bare hands. But I lived in the trenches, I shot people and saved a ton more. I know war. It's okay." I could see tears welling up in Arthur's eyes as I was speaking.

"No big deal?" Thomas asked.

"No big deal." I replied.

* * *

 _I do not own Peaky Blinders. All I own are my OCs._

 _I do not have a Beta reader, and English is not my first language._

 _Please review!_

 _x K._


	2. Pocketwatch

It felt uneasy being home again. I wasn't used to the sounds and smell of Birmingham anymore. Girls I went to school with were walking around Small Heath pushing prams. I never liked the idea of ever having children. Might be because I wasn't blessed with loving upbringing myself. I never really saw how you're supposed to raise kids. I was raised by my brothers and aunt. Boys I babysat were now working in factories or still in France. There were lists with names of all the men already fallen in the war. Everything seemed so different, but in reality, Birmingham wasn't different, I was.

I switched laying in bed with laying on the couch sometimes a day. It really depended on who was home and able to carry me downstairs. The wound was huge, I couldn't move my leg and it hurt like hell. The doctor gave me some medicine, but it gave me even worse nightmares than I already had. I was actually supposed to stay at the hospital, but I refused. And nobody tells a Shelby 'no'. Especially when there are 3 Shelbys standing in your office, telling you that they are taking their sister home.

The boys were adjusting pretty well to life back in Birmingham. They took back their spots at 57 Watery Lane soon after arriving. "Back to business." Arthur had said. I wanted to go too, but aunt Polly wouldn't let me.

Aunt Polly was taking care of me whenever she could. She would bring me soup and blankets and she and my little sister Ada would redo the dressings on my leg. Ada wanted to become a nurse once too, following in her big sister's footsteps, but eventually didn't. 'Too much blood.' She'd said.

She was equipped enough to change dressings on large wounds. I was never more thankful for that than now.

"It doesn't look very clean.." Polly said with worry in her voice. "Are you feeling okay? No fever?" She asked me. "You don't look so good. You're sweating, and your eyes are too bright. It's unusual." I rolled my eyes.

I could do two things. I could be honest and tell them that no, I was not feeling okay, and yes I was probably sporting a huge fever, or I could lie and tell them everything was fine. The two years in the war made me lie about myself a lot. I couldn't feel off, or be sick and weak. I had to go on.

But now I was home. Home and safe and surrounded by people whom I trusted. So after a long pause, I gave in.

"I'm not feeling well, actually." I whispered without looking at either Ada or Polly. Polly sighed and placed her hand on my forehead.

"You're burning up, Ruby. Why didn't you say anything?" She almost yelled. Her face was full of worry. "Ruby, you need to be honest with us about this thing." She turned around and went to find a thermometer somewhere in the house. I heard her walk downstairs.

"Finn!" She yelled. "Finn, go get one of your big brothers please." I heard Finn leave the house, his little feet running out on the street.

Finn was our littlest Shelby. Born years after Ada, but a true Shelby nonetheless. He had grown a lot when we were in France. Apparently, he had missed us terribly.

Polly came back with a cup of tea and a thermometer just when Ada was finishing the fresh dressing. She handed me the cup and slid the thermometer into my mouth before I could take a sip. She tricked me. Polly knew I didn't like thermometers.

"40.1 degrees. Fuck." Was all she hissed.

"It's not that bad. It is just a bit infected, it'll get better. Just need to keep that wound nice and clean." I said in my nurse-voice.

"You're not the nurse right now, Ruby." Ada spat. "Do you even know how lucky you are to be alive? That you'll probably walk again?" She was angry.

I took a sip from my tea, then another, so I could come up with a good answer for Ada. She seemed really upset, which I didn't get.

"Well I'm home aren't I?" I said calmly.

"Stop it, you two." Polly ordered strictly. "Ruby, you need rest. Ada, we have enough work to do, so come on. We don't have time for these stupid things."

And with that, Polly took Ada's arm and pulled her out of my room. The door was shut behind them and I was left alone.

See, when you've been in a war, being alone is not a very nice situation. Your mind starts to remember the things you put away while being in said war. When you're home, safe and alone, all those things come back to you.

So now I was in pain, sick, injured, alone and scared.

Finn found Thomas and Arthur at the 'office'.

"Arthur! Tommy! Aunt Polly calls for you." He yelled while running into the building. He had slammed the door shut behind him, which startled Arthur. He ducked to the floor and covered his head immeadiatly. Tommy was next to him, same position. They were trembling, and got a lot of attention from the rest of the room.

"It's fine. It was a door.." Somebody said with a hint of ignorance in his voice. Tom heard. And he was angry now.

"GET HIM OUT." He screamed while pointing at the door. "Get him out, before I do it myself." Tommy said more calmly, but you could tell by the trembling in his voice that he was angry. So two men grabbed the idiot and literally threw him out of the building.

"Finn, why does Pol need us?" Tommy turned to his baby brother, with a voice like an angel. He could switch his moods so fast, it couldn't be healthy.

"Ruby's sick." Finn said in all honesty. So Arthur stood up, looked at Tom and the both of them ran to Polly's house. Finn followed fast, but his little legs couldn't keep up.

"Pol!" Tommy ran inside, not even bothering to take his hat off. "Pol, what's going on?" Polly looked at him, one eyebrow raised.

"She has a fever, quite one that it. The wound got infected. Perhaps she should've stayed at a hospital?" Her tone was upsetting. Arthur already started to feel guilty.

"I'm going upstairs." Arthur said while making his way to the stairs. "See for myself how she's doing."

Even though I really wanted to sleep, I just couldn't fall asleep. The horrors of Belgium and France came to haunt me everytime I dared to close my eyes.

I heard footsteps, first one on the stairs was Arthus, Thomas followed in sync. There was a very brief pause before the door was swung open. The sight was quite amusing. Arthur had his hand up in the air, as if he was just about to knok, and Tommy walzt into the room like he used to do when I overslept.

"I wanted to knock." Arthur sounded really innocent.

"Today is no day for knocking." Thomas replied without looking up. He looked at me, sighed and placed a kiss on my forehead.

"Yeah I have a fever." I confessed. "Look, I was a surgeon in the war. I know how the human body works. This is normal."

"No it is not. But sure, if you want to play this game, fine." Thomas started. "You can stay here, we won't ship you off to a hospital immeadiatly. But, and this is going to be the deal, if you will not show any sign that you're getting better by tomorrow evening, I'm carrying you myself."

"Sounds fair, doesn't it." Arthur chimened in. I grunted, sighed, and then decided to give up completely. "Sure fine, do whatever. I'm just really in pain and I will not take any more morphin. The nightmares are bad enough as they are." I even made a poutyface, and it worked. Maybe because they recognized the feeling.

"Let me fetch you some tea, nice tea, and you'll try that, 'kay?" Arthur said while shooting a look at Tommy. I noticed Tommy nodding at Arthur in agreeement. Arthur left the room to get me 'nice tea'. I knew what it meant. The thought of it made me a bit more at ease, soon most of the pain would be gone for a couple of hours, and I would be able to sleep without any disturbance. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"Tom?"

"Yes."

"Where is John?"

"Taking care of business."

"Why?"

"Because, Ruby, we've been gone for two years. We have some catching up to do."

"Can I help?'

"No." He paused for a moment, searching for the right words. "You are a nurse. They need you at the hospital, now even more." Thomas spoke with such confidence in his voice I almost believed it.

"No they don't."

"Yes, they do. You know how experienced you are compared to the others. They need someone like you to teach them."

"Then I will do that, but I'm never going back to being a nurse again. Tom, the things I've seen, or done.." I looked away for a moment, not wanting to show the tears that were forming in my eyes. "I'm scarred. For life. I want to help you guys. I know what we do, remember. I'm a fucking Shelby too." I was upset. "I've been working and fighting in a fucking men's world for two years. Doing the same fucking job as the men, down in the mud, wearing a fucking men's uniform because the 'female uniforms' have a skirt. And skirts aren't suitable for mud and trenches and war. I've shot men, killed them, and saved even more. I've made my bones. I am a fucking Shelby and I want a part in this family too!" I almost shouted the last sentence. I was angry because I had done men's bidding for far too long now.

Arthur entered right after my speech. "I-I've got your tea."

"Give it to her. And then we'll let her be." Thomas was processing the things I had said. I could see his brain work. I took the cup from Arthur, bid him thanks, and turned away again. I sipped the tea in silence, secretly wishing one or both of them would stay until I had fallen asleep, but Tommy exited the same way he'd come in, dragging Arthur. With a bang, the door closed.

I fell asleep almost immediately after I finished the tea, and slept blissfully.

"Ruby?" A soft voice tried to wake me up. I could barely hear her speak, but my mind was awake enough to recognize the voice. It belonged to Ada.

"Ruby I'm just here to check on you, take your temperature and so." She pulled out the chair from under my desk and placed it next to my bed. The way she sat down could be described as graceful. When I left, Ada was just a girl. But I returned home and saw a woman. She was beautiful and strong.

"I've missed you." She said after a sigh. I smiled. "I thought about you all the time back in Belgium and France. 'Bout you and Finn both." A little laugh escaped my mouth. "I wrote, you know." Ada said. "I know." I looked at her. "I wrote back, but I was on the move a lot, so not many letters arrived or got sent." I swallowed back some tears. "The worst was when we got off the boat in France. They asked all the medical personnel to move to the other side of the pier, and then we were told we had to go to Belgium. There was barely even time for goodbyes, it was very stressful. The boys had each other, but I was all alone. And a girl. It was very lonely, as I didn't make a lot of friends right away. And the ones that I made, well, they aren't around anymore."

Tears were coming down like waterfalls now. Ada wrapped her arms around me and held me tight as I continued sobbing. Opening up about the war was kind of nice. It relieved some stress I didn't even know I had and I felt a bit better by the time Ada let go of me.

"I'm always here to talk, Rubes. Always." She promised. "Pinky Promise?" I held out my pinky finger, Ada did the same, and we made the Pinky Promise Pact.

"Alright. So Arthur's tea helped, I assume?" Ada grinned. She knew just as well as I did that the liquid was loaded with whiskey and all other kinds of stuff. "Yeah it did. It was wonderful, actually being able to sleep."

"I'll take your temperature and then I'll ask the boys to take you downstairs. Must be getting mad up here." I raised my hands in excitement. Ada took the thermometer and I decided not to be a bitch about it and coorperated. "It's 40.6, Ruby. I'm not sure if going downstairs is the best idea." Ada said carefully.

"It's fine. Take it from me, I've had medical training!" I replied. Ada was thinking hard and long. "Fine." She eventually said.

"We're having supper soon, anyway, so. Allright. Let me get some manpower." Ada walked out the door to shout over the bannister. "ANYBODY UP FOR TAKING RUBY DOWNSTAIRS?"

"Coming right up!" Arthur yelled. He and John were there in no-time, helped me up and let me stand on my good leg. I threw my arms around their waists (since I did not inherit the Shelby-tallness-genes. Neither did Tommy, actually.) and we tried to make our way to the stairs like that. It went pretty well, until the moment I looked down the stairs. I could feel my good leg turning into jelly, black spots were covering my vision. The room started spinning as I almost fell down on the floor. John was just in time to catch me. He picked me up bridal style and carried me downstairs. He laid me down on the couch and called for Tommy and Polly.

"What happened? Let me see her." Tommy made his way over to the couch with a very worried face, pushing Ada aside as he went.

"'M dizzy." Was the only thing I managed to get out. There was a terrible headache coming up, I could feel it, and I had the feeling I was freezing to death. I started trembling and shaking, worrying my family.

"She needs a hospital." Polly spat. "I won't tell you boys 'I told you so' but.."

"Yeah yeah you told us so." John spat back. He was stroking my hair, it felt nice. "Just let her catch her breath first. Maybe she's just a bit dizzy because of the fever. To be honest, we made a pact." Tommy said matter-of-factly.

"A pact?" Polly asked in a high pitched voice. She looked as if she saw an elephant fly.

"Yes. A pact, Pol." Tommy continued. "If she's not on the bettering hand tomorrow night, we take her to the hospital. To be honest, Polly, she knows what she's talking about, you know."

Polly was fuming. "If she dies, that's on you, Thomas Shelby!" She screamed. She marched out of the room with rage. "I'm serious." She yelled when she was outside.

"Let's get her some water and a bit of bread, maybe that'll make her less dizzy for now." John ordered Ada, who went to the kitchen to fetch me something to eat.

"Also, she cannot be left alone anymore. We'll take turns watching her. And as discussed: If she's not better by tomorrow evening, we're taking her to a hospital." Arthur stated. "I'll take the first shift, so you boys can go back to work. I'll send Finn if I need anything." Ada walked over to me and took John's place. She was holding a bit of bread and a cup of tea, offering me the bread first. I took it gladly, had a few bites, and felt the dizziness wave away bit by bit.

"Feeling better?" John looked at me in sympathy. I nodded and closed my eyes for a second. The room wasn't spinning anymore, which was nice, so I thought I was well enough to sit up. I placed my hand on the couch and tried to push myself up. It went a lot easier than I expected it to go, but then I felt Arthur's strong hands helping me up. "There you go." He said. His smile was weak but genuine.

"I would like some tea now." I held out my hand towards Ada, who gave me the cup. I carefully took some sips and welcomed the warm drink.

"I think you boys can leave now?" Ada looked at them, then at the door, and back at them.

"They can stay, you know. Unless they have somewhere to be."

"I think we should have a family meeting. You know, we're all back, but we haven't had one yet. Figure out what we should do with you." Tommy pointed at me while he finished his phrase. "Me?" I looked at Ada for a minute, who shook her head. "What about me?"

"You wanted to be part of this family the same way we are, so let's take it up for a vote." Tommy put his hands in the pockets of his trousers. "Finn, get Polly, please. Tell her we're having a family meeting and she should be here as well. And if she decides not to come, she cannot vote, and she can not bitch about not having the vote." Finn looked at his older brother in disbelief. John knelt down in front of Finn and placed his hands on Finn's shoulders. "Just tell Aunt Polly exactly that. And also, she has to come with you immediately after you find her. We're not waiting for her."

Finn nodded and ran off, the way he always did, even before we went to war. It was nice to see that some things hadn't changed after all.

Polly was not there for the family meeting.

"So, welcome back to all Shelbys, and other men who went to fight for our King." Tommy addressed all the people in the room. Ada and Finn were allowed to stay for the meeting, Charlie, Curly and Jeremiah had gathered in our kitchen as well.

"We are here today to discuss the future career of our little and big sister Ruby." He waved at me, I tried to hide a shy smile. They had managed to get the nice big chair from the living room into the kitchen, and had placed another chair in front of it so I could rest my leg on it. It had worn me out quite a bit, but this was very important business.

"So, as you know, Ruby, we are bookmakers." Tommy stretched his words. "We're still discussing this, but we want to make legitimate business. There are some plans already, but, like I said, we're still discussing this. And since you deem yourself Shelby enough, we're here to take a vote. A vote to give you a part in this business. You will take over some bookmaking business, treasury stuff and of course, when you can walk on your own again, you are going to take care of a part of Small Heath, like we do."

"Alright, let's get to voting!" John clapped his hands and sat down on a chair. He lit a cigarette and took a long drag. "I vote yay." He said after he blew out some smoke. He winked at me, the way he used to do when he got me out of trouble.

"Me too. She's a true Shelby, you know. She'll make it in this men's world as well as she did in the war." Arthur gave me an high-five.

"Uncle Charlie, Curly?" Tommy looked at them. "We say yay." Curly giggled, the way he giggled everything. Charlie nodded in agreement. "She's a though one." He added.

"I say yay too. She saved our asses in France, you know." Jeremiah tipped his hat at me.

"So that leaves Ada and Finn." Tommy checked his mental to-do list. "I say yay," Ada started. "but she cannot go out and make that career until she is healed and healthy." Ada crossed her arms as she spoke. Her voice was loaded with worry, but I understood. If it had been Ada in my place, I would never let her go out ever again.

"Finn?" Ada looked at our littlest brother.

"Er, sure?" He raised his shoulders.

"That's good enough for me, welcome to the business, Rubes." John took my hand and shook it, before planting a kiss on my forehead.

"So, time for your gift." Tommy handed me a little box and also kissed my forehead. I know they did it to check my temperature, but I decided to pretend it was because they wanted me to feel like their little sister again, the way I felt before the war. Ada smiled warmly at me and Finn urged me to open the little box.

"Okay, okay. I'm opening it."

I ripped off the ribbon and tried my best to be careful while opening the box. There was a beautiful gold pocket watch in it, heavily decorated with poppies and roses. "It was dad's." I gasped. My older brothers nodded in agreement.

"And now it's yours. So you'll never be late for a day's work ever again."

"Thanks Tommy."

For the first time since being ripped apart by a grenade, I felt truly alive again. This was going to be the start of something big. Big for me, for our family, and for every girl out there, wanting to make it in the big bad men's world we were living in.


End file.
